Third straight Marc-Hodler-Trophy for Norway

FIS Junior World Ski Championships

Mon, Mar
19, 2007 - By FIS

The 2007 FIS Nordic Junior World Ski Championships and U-23
Cross-Country World Ski Championships concluded in Tarvisio (ITA) on
Sunday. For the third time in a row, Norway collected the
coveted Marc-Hodler-Trophy with 139 points, followed by Germany with 85
and Finland with 75 points. For the Trophy, nations are awarded points
according to their athletes' placement, whereby a maximum of two
competitors per nation may score points in the individual races.
Charlotte Kalla of Sweden was the most successful athlete with four
medals, two gold and two silver medals.

The last competitions on
the schedule on Sunday were the Cross-Country ladies' and men's relays
and the Nordic Combined sprint race. In the ladies' 4x3.3km relay,
Norway took the lead in the first leg where Celine Brun-Lie posted the
fastest leg and kept it until the end with the help of strong
performances by Therese Johaug, Marte Monrad-Hansen and Astrid
Jacobsen. In the end, Sweden took the silver just 2.6 seconds behind
Norway due to the excellent final leg by Charlotte Kalla. The bronze
medal went to Finland, some 46 seconds behind the winner and 6 seconds
ahead of Italy in 4th place.

The men's 4x5km relay turned out to
be a highly exciting competition. At the first exchange, Russia was in
the lead, followed by Slovakia and Sweden with Norway, one of the
favorites, only 17th. In the second exchange, Kazakhstan had taken the
lead ahead of Finland. In the third leg, Magnus Engstroem of Sweden
claimed the pole position and brought his team to the exchange in the
lead ahead of Austria and Russia. The fight for the medals culminated
in the final sprint where Sweden's Adam Johansson prevailed just 0.3
seconds ahead of Russia with Andrey Parfenov and 4.5 seconds ahead of
Austria with Johannes Duerr. Norway was left with the 4th place, 14.6
seconds behind winner, despite the fastest leg time posted by Eirik
Saeves.

In the Nordic Combined sprint, Eric Frenzel, from
Oberwiesenthal, Germany, took the gold medal. Fourth after the
ski jumping competition, he earned the victory ahead of Anssi
Koivuranta (FIN), the World Champion in the Gundersen event. Alfred
Rainer (AUT) took the bronze, as in the Gundersen event.